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<body><input type="hidden" id="userDataCache" class="userDataStyle"></input><input type="hidden" id="hiddenScrollOffset"></input><img id="dropDownImage" style="display:none; height:0; width:0;" src="drpdown.gif"><img id="dropDownHoverImage" style="display:none; height:0; width:0;" src="drpdown_orange.gif"><img id="collapseImage" style="display:none; height:0; width:0;" src="collapse.gif"><img id="expandImage" style="display:none; height:0; width:0;" src="exp.gif"><img id="copyImage" style="display:none; height:0; width:0;" src="copycode.gif"><img id="copyHoverImage" style="display:none; height:0; width:0;" src="copycodeHighlight.gif"><div id="header"><table width="100%" id="topTable"><tr id="headerTableRow1"><td align="left"><span id="runningHeaderText"></span></td></tr><tr id="headerTableRow2"><td align="left"><span id="nsrTitle">Choosing Link Types to Effectively Track Your Project</span></td></tr><tr id="headerTableRow3"></tr></table></div><div id="mainSection"><div id="mainBody"><div id="allHistory" class="saveHistory"></div>
				<p>When you create relationships between work items, you select the type of link that best supports your project planning and tracking efforts. Different types of links support different capabilities and are based on one of four topologies, as described in <a href="http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=182586" target="_blank" alt=""><linkText xmlns="http://ddue.schemas.microsoft.com/authoring/2003/5">Working with Link Types</linkText></a>.</p>
				<p>
					<b>In this topic:</b>
				</p>
				<p>Review the following sections to determine the best choice of link type to support your tracking needs:</p>
				<ul><li class="unordered">
						
							<a href="#UseRelatedLink">Use a Related Link to Make Non-Hierarchical Relationships</a>
						<br /><br />
					</li><li class="unordered">
						
							<a href="#UseParentChildLink">Use Parent-Child Links to View Multi-Tiered, Hierarchical Relationships</a>
						<br /><br />
					</li><li class="unordered">
						
							<a href="#UsePredecessorSuccessorLinks">Use Predecessor-Successor Links to Plan and Track Project Tasks and their Dependencies</a>
						<br /><br />
					</li><li class="unordered">
						
							<a href="#UseDependentLink">Use Dependent Links to View and Track Dependent Work Items</a>
						<br /><br />
					</li><li class="unordered">
						
							<a href="#UseChangesetAndVersionedItemLinks">Use Changeset and Versioned Item Links to Associate Tasks and Features with Development Work and Versioned Items</a>
						<br /><br />
					</li></ul>
			<a name="UseRelatedLink"></a><a name="chooselinktype#UseRelatedLink"></a><h1 class="heading">Use a Related Link to Make Non-Hierarchical Relationships</h1><div id="sectionSection0" class="section"><content xmlns="http://ddue.schemas.microsoft.com/authoring/2003/5">
					<p xmlns="">To create the simplest relationship between work items, add a related link to a work item. This type of link has no inherent hierarchy and is based on the network link topology. You can use the related link type to relate work items that are at the same level, such as two user stories that define features that overlap one another. Or, you may want to create a related link relationship between two different work item types that are defined in two different team projects and managed by different teams.</p>
					<div class="alert" xmlns=""><table width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"><tr><th align="left">Note </th></tr><tr><td>
						When you upgrade from a previous version of Team Foundation Server
, all currently defined links are assigned the <b>Related</b> link type.<p></p>
					</td></tr></table><p></p></div>
					<p xmlns="">With related links you can meet the following goals:</p>
					<ul xmlns=""><li class="unordered">
							Find and view work items and their related work items in a two-tiered view.<br /><br />
						</li><li class="unordered">
							Create simple relationships with few restrictions.<br /><br />
						</li></ul>
				</content></div><a name="UseParentChildLink"></a><a name="chooselinktype#UseParentChildLink"></a><h1 class="heading">Use Parent-Child Links to View Multi-Tiered, Hierarchical Relationships</h1><div id="sectionSection1" class="section"><content xmlns="http://ddue.schemas.microsoft.com/authoring/2003/5">
					<p xmlns="">You create parent-child links between work items in order to view multi-tiered, hierarchical relationships between the work items. This link type is most often used to break down user stories into features and to divide tasks into subtasks. Parent-child links are based on the tree topology, support a one-to-many relationship set, and prohibit circular definitions, that is, a child node can only have one parent.</p>
					<p xmlns="">With parent-child links, you can meet the following goals:</p>
					<ul xmlns=""><li class="unordered">
							Export selected work items from tree query results, and add and modify work items and their links using Office Excel
.<br /><br />
						</li><li class="unordered">
							Create a top-down break down of work items in Office Excel
.<br /><br />
						</li><li class="unordered">
							Maintain task summary relationships in both Office Project
 and Team Foundation Server
. Parent-child links are created for summary tasks and their subordinate tasks.<br /><br />
						</li><li class="unordered">
							Generate reports that can be updated or refreshed from a work item tree query. <br /><br />
							<div class="alert"><table width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"><tr><th align="left">Important </th></tr><tr><td>
								Although you can generate reports by using the Team Foundation Server plug-in for Eclipse, you must use Team Explorer
 in Visual Studio
 to   perform the other operations in the previous list.<p></p>
							</td></tr></table><p></p></div>
						</li></ul>
					<p xmlns="">When you define parent-child links, note the following restrictions and recommendations:</p>
					<ul xmlns=""><li class="unordered">
							A work item can have only one parent, although a parent work item can have many children.<br /><br />
						</li><li class="unordered">
							Work items joined by parent-child links must be defined for the same team project. This action is recommended if you plan to use Office Excel
 or Office Project
 to modify or update work item data.<br /><br />
						</li></ul>
					<div class="alert" xmlns=""><table width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"><tr><th align="left">Note </th></tr><tr><td>
						You can create parent-child links between work items that are defined in different projects. However, if you export a query to Office Excel
 or Office Project
, only those work items that are defined for the team project for which the query is defined are imported into the Office client.<p></p>
					</td></tr></table><p></p></div>
				</content></div><a name="UsePredecessorSuccessorLinks"></a><a name="chooselinktype#UsePredecessorSuccessorLinks"></a><h1 class="heading">Use Predecessor-Successor Links to Plan and Track Project Tasks and their Dependencies</h1><div id="sectionSection2" class="section"><content xmlns="http://ddue.schemas.microsoft.com/authoring/2003/5">
					<p xmlns="">If you use Office Project
 to plan and track projects, and you link two tasks that represent work items, when you publish the data, Team Foundation
 automatically creates predecessor-successor links between the work items. Predecessor-successor links are used to track tasks that must be completed before others can be started. Predecessor-successor links are based on a dependency topology, support one-to-many relationships, and do not allow circular definitions.</p>
					<p xmlns="">You can perform one or more of the following tasks when you connect work items using predecessor-successor links:</p>
					<ul xmlns=""><li class="unordered">
							Create a project plan, make and track changes by using Office Project
, and publish the work items as tasks to Team Foundation Server
.<br /><br />
						</li><li class="unordered">
							Find and view predecessor work items and their successor work items in a two-tiered view. You can also modify the link relationships by using the drag and drop operation.<br /><br />
						</li></ul>
					<p xmlns="">When you define predecessor-successor links, note the following restrictions and recommendations:</p>
					<ul xmlns=""><li class="unordered">
							Do not create links that define circular relationships. If you attempt to create or publish work items that form cyclical links, you will receive an error that directs you to resolve them before you can publish.<br /><br />
						</li><li class="unordered">
							Create predecessor-successor links only to work items that are within the same team project (recommended).<br /><br />
						</li></ul>
					<div class="alert" xmlns=""><table width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"><tr><th align="left">Note </th></tr><tr><td>
						You can create predecessor-successor links between work items that are defined in different projects. However, if you export a query to Office Excel
 or Office Project
, only those work items that are defined for the team project for which the query is defined are imported into the Office client.<p></p>
					</td></tr></table><p></p></div>
					<p xmlns="">For more information about link types and Office Project
, see <a href="http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=182632" target="_blank" alt=""><linkText xmlns="http://ddue.schemas.microsoft.com/authoring/2003/5">Quick Tips and Operational Differences when Tracking Tasks Using Office Project and Team Foundation</linkText></a> on the Microsoft Web site.</p>
				</content></div><a name="UseDependentLink"></a><a name="chooselinktype#UseDependentLink"></a><h1 class="heading">Use Dependent Links to View and Track Dependent Work Items</h1><div id="sectionSection3" class="section"><content xmlns="http://ddue.schemas.microsoft.com/authoring/2003/5">
					<p xmlns="">You create links to work items by using a dependent link type in order to track work items that impact the ability to complete a requirement, feature, or task. Also, you can create links to work items that cross project boundaries. For example, the Microsoft Solutions Framework (MSF) for Agile Software Development v5.0 process template provides the following additional dependent link types: Tested By/Tests and Test Case/Shared Steps. These link types are used to create relationships among work items that track bugs, issues, test cases, and shared steps.</p>
					<p xmlns="">Dependent links are based on a dependency topology, support one-to-many relationships, and prohibit circular definitions. You can perform any of the following tasks by using dependent links:</p>
					<ul xmlns=""><li class="unordered">
							Find and view top-level work items and their dependent work items in a two-tiered view.<br /><br />
						</li><li class="unordered">
							Manage risks and dependencies and collaborate more effectively across project teams. For example, you can reach the following goals by defining dependent links between work items in your team project and those defined in another team project.<br /><br />
						</li><li class="unordered">
							Create a dependent relationship to a feature or set of tasks that are under development by another team.<br /><br />
						</li><li class="unordered">
							Request that another team accept a work item dependency.<br /><br />
						</li><li class="unordered">
							Manage your commitments and cross-group dependencies to other teams.<br /><br />
						</li></ul>
					<p xmlns="">When you define dependent links, note the following restrictions and recommendations:</p>
					<ul xmlns=""><li class="unordered">
							Use dependent links when work items share dependencies. For example, use them when a user story has many features and some of the features fulfill two or more user stories.<br /><br />
						</li><li class="unordered">
							Use dependent links rather than other link types to associate work items that are defined in another team project.<br /><br />
						</li><li class="unordered">
							You cannot view hierarchical relationships created with dependent link types using Office Excel
 or Office Project
 except for those instances noted earlier in this topic for parent-child links and predecessor-successor links.<br /><br />
						</li></ul>
					<div class="alert" xmlns=""><table width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"><tr><th align="left">Note </th></tr><tr><td>
						You can create dependent links between work items that are defined in different projects and view the dependencies within a two-tiered or tree view in Team Web Access
 and Team Explorer
. However, if you export a query to Office Excel
 or Office Project
, only those work items that are defined for the team project for which the query is defined are imported into the Office client.  <p></p>
					</td></tr></table><p></p></div>
				</content></div><a name="UseChangesetAndVersionedItemLinks"></a><a name="chooselinktype#UseChangesetAndVersionedItemLinks"></a><h1 class="heading">Use Changeset and Versioned Item Links to Associate Tasks and Features with Development Work and Versioned Items</h1><div id="sectionSection4" class="section"><content xmlns="http://ddue.schemas.microsoft.com/authoring/2003/5">
					<p xmlns="">You can create relationships between work items and version control changesets and files by using the <b>Changeset</b> and <b>Versioned Item</b> link types. These relationships are useful when you need to determine the changeset or source control file that is associated with a feature, task, bug, or other work item. To use these link relationships, your team must use Team Foundation
 for version control.</p>
					<p xmlns="">With <b>Changeset</b> and <b>Versioned Item</b> links you and other team members can perform the following tasks:</p>
					<ul xmlns=""><li class="unordered">
							Associate version control changes with a particular work item.<br /><br />
						</li><li class="unordered">
							Track the set of files that were involved in completing a work item.<br /><br />
						</li><li class="unordered">
							View changes that have been made in the source code to address a work item.<br /><br />
						</li></ul>
					<div class="alert" xmlns=""><table width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"><tr><th align="left">Note </th></tr><tr><td>
						You cannot create a Work Items and Direct Links query that finds work items that are linked by using the <b>Changeset</b> and <b>Versioned Item</b> link types.<p></p>
					</td></tr></table><p></p></div>
					<p xmlns="">For more information, see <a href="assocwitemchangeset.htm" target="_blank">Associate Work Items with Changesets</a>.</p>
				</content></div><h1 class="heading"><span id="seeAlsoNoToggle">See Also</span></h1><div id="seeAlsoSection" class="section"><h4 class="subHeading">Tasks</h4><a href="createrelationship.htm" target="_blank">Create or Delete Relationships Between Work Items</a><br /><h4 class="subHeading">Concepts</h4><a href="creatingrelationships.htm" target="_blank">Creating Relationships Between Work Items and Other Resources</a><br /><a href="creatingrelationships.htm" target="_blank">Creating Relationships Between Work Items and Other Resources</a><br /><h4 class="subHeading">Other Resources</h4><a href="http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=182586" target="_blank" alt=""><linkText xmlns="http://ddue.schemas.microsoft.com/authoring/2003/5">Working with Link Types</linkText></a><br /><br /></div><!--[if gte IE 5]>
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